Method for forging



March 24, 1959 J. H. BRUC-E, sl 2,878,562

1 METHOD FOR FORGING Filed July 28, 1953 ZSheets-Sheet'l INVENTOR JamesRBI-ace, 3".

March 24, 1959 J. H. BRUCE, SR

METHOD FOR FORGING 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 28. 1953 INVENTOR whinesIZBrucqJ'r.

United States Patent METHOD FOR FORGING James H. Bruce, Sr., Beaver,Pa., assignor to Rochester Machine Corp., Beaver, Pa., a corporation ofPennsylvania Application July 28, 1953, Serial No. 370,722

7 Claims. (Cl. 29-5524) This invention relates to a method for forgingand particularly to a method for accumulating and forming a portion ofenlarged section upon an elongated metal member. It has long been thepractice to form portions of enlarged section upon elongated metalmembers such as wheels or hubs upon axle shafts by repeatedly heatingthe portion to be enlarged and then upsetting the heated portion aftereach heating by means of a hammer until the enlarged portion had arrivedat the desired size. This required the use of dies of various sizes andshapes to carry the enlarged portion through the several stagesnecessary in order to produce the final desired enlarged section. Thismethod of enlarging an elongated member is expensive, inconvenient andslow, but has been used for many years in spite of its many drawbacksfor lack of anything better.

I have discovered a method by means of which enlarged portions may bereadily formed on an elongated member. In a preferred practice of myinvention a portion of the elongated metal member sutficiently large tofurnish the cubical content of metal necessary for the elongated sectionis heated to forging temperature. The heated portion of the member andan unheated portion of the member on each side thereof are confinedagainst movement transverse to the length of the elongated member.Pressure is exerted upon the ends of the elongated member andsimultaneously therewith the confining pressure on the heated portion isreleased to form an enlarging die, thus permitting the heated portion toexpand transversely of the length of the elongated member into theenlarging die to form the desired enlarged section. Preferably, this iscarried out in an apparatus having a base, a die formed on said base andhaving a portion thereof adapted to receive and confine one end of anelongated member to be expanded, sleeve means fitting within said dieand reciprocable therein, the opening in the sleeve aligned with theopening in the base of the die receiving the end of the elongatedmember, ram means adapted to exert pressure on the end of an elongatedmember extended out of said opening and reciprocable relatively to thesleeve whereby the ram is moved lengthwise of the elongated member toexert pressure between the ends thereof while the sleeve issimultaneously withdrawn to form a gradually enlarging portion in thedie into which the heated portion of the elongated metal flows whileonly retracting the sleeve. Preferably the ram is actuated by ahydraulic cylinder and the sleeve is mounted on a movable frameworkactuated by one or more hydraulic cylinders independent of the cylinderoperating the ram.

I have attempted to point out certain of the salient features of myinvention. However, other features, objects and advantages will becomeapparent from a consideration of the description and of the accompanyingdrawings in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of one embodiment of theinvention;

Figure 2 is a horizontal section through the apparatus of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section on line III-III of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a horizontal section through the apparatus of Figure 1showing the first stage of forming a hub on an axle;

Figure 5 is the section of Figure 4 in a further advanced stage;

Figure 6 is a horizontal section of the apparatus of Figure 1 applied tothe manufacture of a universal joint yoke;

Figure 7 is a side elevation of a second embodiment of this invention.

Referring to the drawings there is illustrated parallel guide frames 10carrying end plates 11 and 12. A die 13 is mounted in a movable platen14 which is movable on the guide frames 10 to a selected position whereit may be locked in fixed position. The die 13 is adapted to receive oneend of an elongated member 16 which is to havea portion thereofenlarged. The balance of the elongated member extends upwardly throughthe center of the die 13. A reciprocable sleeve 17 is mounted on amovable platen 18 which is movable on the guide frames 10 by means ofpistons 19 operated by hydraulic cylinders 19a. The sleeve 17 isprovided with a central opening 20 which is adapted to surround andcontact the outer periphery of the elongated member 16 projectingthrough the center of the die 13. A reciprocable ram 21 mounted in ahydraulic cylinder 22 on the end platen 12 is mounted for engagementagainst the end of the elongated member 16 projecting into the opening20 in the sleeve. In order to forge an enlarged portion on the elongatedmember a portion of the member sufliciently large to contain the cubicalcontent of metal desired in the enlarged portion is heated to thetemperature at which the metal will flow. One end of the elongatedmember 16 is then inserted into the reduced portion 15 of the die andthe platen 14 is moved to a position where one end of the heated portionof the elongated member 16 begins at the bottom of the die 13 andextends into the sleeve 17 which is at the bottom of the die 13 andsurrounds the heated portion of the member and a portion of unheatedmember above the heated portion confining it against movement transverseto the length thereof. The ram 21 is then brought against the unheatedend of the elongated member in the sleeve 17 and pressure is brought tobear against that end. Simultaneously the movable platen 18 is retractedtowards the fixed platen 12 and continuous pressure is exerted by theram 21 on the end of the member 16. As the sleeve 17 is withdrawn theheated portion of the elongated member 16 which is no longer confined,is forced outwardly into the die beneath the sleeve 17 to form anenlarged portion 23. As the sleeve 17 is withdrawn the enlarged portion23 follows the sleeve, gradually lengthening the enlarged portion untilthe desired size is attained. This gradual enlargement is illustrated inchain line in Figure 1. By changing the shape of the die, various shapesof enlarged section may be formed on an enlongated member. For example,the yoke commonly used on automobile universal joints can be readilyformed in this fashion as shown in Figure 6. Other similar shapes maylikewise be formed.

The die 13 may be held in the movable platen 14 by means of a flange 24on the die mating in a groove in the platen. In order to make removal ofthe die rapid and easy a locking member 25 may be provided in themovable platen to hold the die in position therein as shown in Figure 3.

In Figure 7 there is illustrated a different embodiment of thisinvention in which all of the components are identical with those ofFigures 1 through 6 with the addition of a hydraulic cylinder 30 mountedon fixed platen 11 and provided with a ram 31 to act as a back-up forthe workpiece 16. Hydraulic cylinders 32 are provided on either side ofcylinder 30 to operate the movable platen 14 carrying the die 13.

While I have illustrated and described a preferred practice andapparatus for carrying out my invention it will be understood that itmay be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. The method of accumulating and forming a portion of enlarged sectionon an elongated metal member comprising the steps of heating a portionof said member sufliciently large to furnish the cubical content ofmetal necessary for the enlarged section, confining the heated portionand an adjacent unheated portion of said member against movementtransverse to the length thereof, exerting pressure between the ends ofthe elongated member, simultaneously gradually releasing the confiningpressure on the heated portion and permitting the heated portion toexpand transversely of the length of the elongated member to form thedesired enlarged section.

2. The method of accumulating and forming a portion of enlarged sectionon an elongated metal member cornprising the steps of heating a portionof said member sufficiently large to furnish the cubical content ofmetal necessary for the enlarged section to forging temperature,confining the heated portion and an unheated portion of said member oneach side thereof against movement transverse to the length thereof,exerting pressure between the ends of the elongated member,simultaneously releasing the confining pressure on the heated portionlengthwise of the member and permitting the heated portion to expandtransversely of the length of the elongated member to form the desiredenlarged section.

3. The method of accumulating and forming a portion of enlarged sectionon an elongated metal member comprising the steps of heating a portionof said member sufficiently large to furnish the cubical content ofmetal necessary for the enlarged section, confining the heated portionagainst movement transverse to the length thereof, exerting pressurebetween the ends of the elongated member, simultaneously releasing theconfining pressure on the heated portion lengthwise of the member andpermitting the heated portion to expand transversely of the length ofthe elongated member to form the desired enlarged section.

4. The method of accumulating and forming a portion of enlarged sectionon an elongated metal member comprising the steps of heating a portionof said member sufiiciently large to furnish the cubical content ofmetal necessary for the enlarged section, confining the heated portionagainst movement transverse to the length thereof, exerting pressurebetween the ends of the elongated member, simultaneously releasingconfining pressure on the heated portion to form an enlarging die andpermitting the heated portion to expand transversely of the length ofthe elongated member into said enlarging die to form the desiredenlarged section.

5. The method of accumulating and forming a portion A. of enlargedsection on an elongated metal section comprising the steps of heating aportion of said section sufiiciently large to furnish the cubicalcontent of metal necessary for the enlarged section, maintaining one endof the elongated section against movement, exerting pressurelongitudinally on the opposite end of said elongated section all theWhile confining the heated portion against expansion transverse to thelongitudinal direction, releasing stepwise the confining pressure aboutthe sides of the elongated section and permitting the heated section toexpand into a gradually enlarging cavity having the shape of the desiredenlarged section.

6. The method of accumulating and forming a portion of enlarged sectionon an elongated metal section comprising the steps of heating a portionof said section sutficiently large to furnish the cubical content ofmetal necessary for the enlarged section, maintaining one end of thesection against movement, exerting pressure longitudinally on theopposite end of said elongated section all the while confining saidopposite end and the heated portion against expansion transverse to thelongitudinal direction, releasing gradually the confining pressure aboutthe sides of the elongated member from a point adjacent the endmaintained against movement and going in the axial direction andpermitting the heated section to expand following the release of theconfining pressure into an enlarged die having the general shapedesired.

7. The method of accumulating and forming a portion of enlarged sectionon an elongated metal section comprising the steps of heating a portionof said section sufiiciently large to furnish the cubical content ofmetal necessary for the enlarged section, maintaining one end of theelongated section against movement, confining the heated portion againstmovement transverse to the longitudinal direction, exerting pressurelongitudinally on the opposite end of said elongated section,simultaneously slowly releasing the confining pressure in thelongitudinal direction and permitting the heated section to expandsubstantially transversely to the longitudinal axis of the elongatedsection into a gradually enlarging die having the shape of the desiredenlarged section.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,613,595 Abel Jan. 11, 1927 1,668,442 Wineman May 1, 1928 1,837,097Barth Dec. 15, 1931 1,983,618 Lamond Dec. 11, 1934 2,029,800 TemplinFeb. 4, 1936 2,168,641 Arbogast Aug. 8, 1939 2,209,490 Greve July 30,1940 2,344,285 Cormode Mar. 14, 1944 2,499,980 Stokes et a1. Mar. 7,1950 2,509,783 Richardson May 30, 1950 2,556,951 Weidner June 12, 1951FOREIGN PATENTS 107,912 Switzerland Dec. 1, 1924

